The invention relates generally to inductors and more specifically to a design of high energy density inductors.
As will be appreciated, there has been significant development in areas related to power conversion. Significant reduction in size and thickness of chips used in power semiconductors has been achieved. Unfortunately, this reduction in size typically leads to reduced thermal capacity of the power semiconductors.
Further, with regard to passive components, currently used techniques have failed to provide significant reduction in size of the passive components. By way of example, an alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC) power supply typically includes several passive components such as inductors and capacitors. In these power supplies the inductors may make up to 50% of the total weight. Hence, it may be highly desirable to reduce the size of the inductors.
Currently available techniques attempt to reduce the size of the inductor by increasing the switching frequency of the power inverter or by developing new core materials that have a high flux density and low hysteresis losses. However, increasing the switching frequency disadvantageously results in increased switching losses of the power semiconductor. Moreover, certain other techniques attempt to reduce the size of the inductor by increasing the current density. Unfortunately, in a standard design of the inductor, the current density is limited by the maximum amount of losses that may be produced in the winding.
Moreover, in traditional inductors, a polymer isolator is generally disposed between the windings; however, the polymer isolator typically has a poor thermal conductivity (e.g., 0.17 Wm−1K−1). Therefore, it is difficult to transfer the heat due to losses from the interior of the winding, thereby resulting in heating of the inductors.
It may therefore be desirable to develop a design of an inductor with efficient cooling capabilities. More particularly, it may be desirable to develop a design configured to enhance the cooling capabilities of the inductor by employing isolation materials with high thermal conductivity.